Advanced Packing - 401

In three weeks the moving truck will pull up to the curb and start loading up. Three weeks to get our mounds of stuff out of the corners and crawl space and garage and packed into boxes in some order and ready to go.  Three weeks of panic - maybe.

But not if one has a system.  Yes, a system.  Some would say "Karen?  A system for packing? But of course."  Others might say "There is a system for packing?!?"

So, here's the system:

First, either lay hands on or draw up a floor plan of the new residence. 

Second, gather up your sheets of coloured stickers. What? You don't have sheets of coloured stickers?  Off to the dollar store. Chop, chop.  Don't waste time.  We've got things to pack.  Okay, got your stickers?  Good.  

Third, assign each room in your new residence a colour that matches one of the sticker colours (for example, red for the kitchen, green for the living room).  Mark the colours on the floor plan, preferably in coloured markers that match your colour assignment (for example, use a red marker to label the kitchen red). If you have, perhaps, bought too large a house and have more rooms than sticker colours, you might run into problems here and have to run back to the dollar store for more stickers.  Just be sure to get different colours, not shades of the same.  (ie. No navy blue, royal blue and powder blue.  In the eyes of movers, blue is blue is blue.) Oh, and don't forget the matching coloured markers. Okay. More stickers and markers? Good. We continue.

Fourth, gather up your stock of boxes and packing materials (bubble wrap, tissue paper, styrofoam peanuts).  What?  Again with the whining that you don't have such things.  Well, alright.  Off you go again.  Moving companies will supply you with such things for a fee.  If you feel you can spare the time, do the rounds of the liquor stores and photocopy shops to see if you can snag some free boxes.  Just don't blame me if you're still rounding up boxes in three weeks and not a thing has been packed.  And don't underestimate how many boxes you'll need.  No point in having to repeat step four, especially since it's been scientifically proven that the hour at which one is most likely to run out of boxes is 3:00 a.m. and I can pretty much guarantee that you're not likely to find empty boxes readily available at that time. 

Fifth, pack like a demon.  (Note to those overly-confident types:  here's your chance to show your superiority to the rest of society.  Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to weed out the junk as you go.  No point in moving that old Beta video player or the collection of salt and pepper shakers that you haven't unpacked from your last move.)

Sixth, label all boxes and apply colour coded stickers.  This sounds straight forward, but for many, this is where system failure will occur if careful attention to detail is neglected. Not only must you ensure that all boxes are correctly colour coded (for example, all kitchen boxes are coded red) but that all boxes are labelled and colour coded on all four sides as well as on the top.  Top labeling alone simply will not suffice.  If you choose not to accept this little nugget of wisdom you will soon realize the errors of your ways when you are looking for the scotch glasses and are faced with a tower of boxes of which only the top box's final destination and contents can be identified.

Sidebar: alternate steps five and six.  Do not, under any circumstances, assume that you can pack half a dozen boxes and remember what was in the first box.  Believe me, you will never find those scotch glasses when you need them.  So, unless you like your scotch from a used takeaway coffee cup, label as you go.

And finally, the seventh and final step in the system.  When you arrive at your new home, post your colour coded floor plan beside the door so that the movers can match up the boxes to the correct room. Ignore the strange looks that the movers give you when you explain to them your system. Remember, these are people who are probably not even wearing matching socks.  You are the customer and, after all, it's just as easy for them to put a box in the correct location as it is for them to put it in an incorrect location, so why not get the kitchen boxes in the kitchen instead of the basement rec room?  Occasionally, the use of a referee whistle will be required to encourage reluctant movers to embrace the system.  A few short blasts directed at a mover about to deposit a lavender laundry room box in the middle of a sea of aqua mud room boxes usually brings the offender in line.

And that, my friends, is the system.  So now I must go pack.  Only first I must find my collection of coloured stickers, which, I think, might be packed away in a box in the garage from the last time we moved.  And then I must try to steal some matching coloured markers from Liam, who seems to think that colouring is an activity more approriate to a preschooler than his mummy.  And then boxes.... I think I know of a 24 hour photocopy shop on Broadway.